Way back in 1848, a large group of women gathered in Seneca Falls, New York, to discuss three important issues facing Americans. Abolition, Temperance, and Women’s Suffrage were the topics; but the major issue was Women’s Suffrage. It would determine the future of the other two issues.
If women had the right to vote, they could possibly pass laws to control the other two issues. The group gained northern support until the early 1850s when slavery became the most important topic in the nation. Women’s suffrage and Temperance fell short; in fact, Temperance laws were almost nonexistence during the Civil War.
For the next forty years, states bantered back and forth with citizens about women voters. The real issue was control of women and their money. When a couple in England during the 1700s married, the wife gave up all her rights to any inheritance she had. If she earned any money for labor she did, it went to the husband. If the husband died, the wife had no right to guardianship of the children. Another man would be appointed to handle all the funds. Women were to maintain the home, cater to the men, and educate children. But women began to question and rebel this idea. And in the United States men liked the law. One of the leading reasons was the problems of alcohol. Temperance came to the rescue of women and their need for suffrage.
As the issue turned into protests, picketing, and other signs of opposition, President Woodrow Wilson and both houses of Congress began discussions. When the United States entered the World War I, women volunteered for such things as maintaining recreational activities for the young men, as nurses, and even as telephone operators to keep troops in France in communication with each other. The war and the influenza epidemic convinced men, at least some, that women were competent and should have the right to vote. In fact, Army officers abroad in 1918 allowed their wives to cast votes for them.
Congress began to discuss the need for women’s suffrage in the form of a constitutional amendment. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the 19th Amendment passed Congress. Wilson signed it, but since this was an amendment it must be ratified by a majority of the states. The first former Southern State was Texas. The vote was the ninth passed. Tennessee would finish the ratification with its 36th vote.
Now, courthouses would open their doors and women would flock in to vote. No, that wasn’t the way it worked. The 15th Amendment had allowed Black men, but not women, to vote. Shortly thereafter, Jim Crow laws in the South and parts of the north created real tension. For anyone to vote in those states they must pay a poll tax, take a literacy test, and face intimidation. Poll tax was a means that whites could control who voted in their area. Everyone had to pay a small fee, under five dollars; but a small fortune for Blacks and white tenant farmers as well as others on the poverty edge. Those that didn’t have the certificate couldn’t vote. It would be in the 1960s and the Civil Rights Act before all Americans had the right to vote.
So, this week we will celebrate everyone’s right to vote. To celebrate, consider going to the polls before or on November 3rd. Vote for whom ever you choose; it’s your constitutional right remember.